30 DAY WRITING CHALLENGE!
by Polkahotness
Summary: The official 30 Day Writing Challenge for Hey Arnold! In each day's challenge, I will be attempting to tackle every character so it won't just be Arnold and Helga stories, which should keep it fairly interesting : R&R and let me know what you guys think! **rating it T in case my language gets rough**
1. DAY 1: RIPPED APART

_**Well guys, I know it's late, but I'm FINALLY jumping on the 30 day writing challenge here! **_

_**DAY 1: RIPPED APART **_

_**I decided to write this about Miriam and how she was 'ripped apart' from the life she imagined herself to have including that of her life with Bob and her children. Lemme know what you guys think! **_

_**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Hey Arnold! **_

_**enjoy and stay tuned for each day! I will finish! :) **_

_**xoxo**_

_**Polkahotness**_

* * *

"Hey Miriam."

"Oh... oh hi Helga... How... how was school?"

she shrugged her shoulders like she typically did most afternoons, and tossed her backpack on the floor. "You care, why?"

"Because... Well I'm your mother, Helga."

"Psh," she scoffed, "you just keep telling yourself that, MOM."

"Don't..." I said, standing up and wobbling for a moment, "Don't you say things like that, Helga. You know... you know I try and have always tried to be a good mom."

"Since when?"

"Since you were born..."

"THAT'S a laugh. You've NEVER tried. I mean... there was that weird brief period in which you took over Bob's job and paid attention to me for what, a week? But that's IT. It's always been about Olga for you, Miriam. So stop lying to yourself."

I looked at her in silence, my heart pounding in my chest like a hammer against cloth and I shook my head. My breath was suddenly becoming uneven and I could feel the tears welling in my eyes.

"Helga," I called out as she made her way upstairs to hide in her room until B called her down for dinner which I still hadn't thought about yet, "I'm... I'm so sorry."

"Whatever."

"No Helga... Helga!" I yelled out, stumbling my way towards the staircase only to hear the familiar slamming of her door and her name plate that we had once hung so proudly after her birth bang against the wooden door.

"Helga..." I whispered to myself, looking down at my feet.

"I wasn't always like this..."

* * *

I met Bob when we were in High School. He was the quarterback of the football team, the star of the baseball team and ever young girl's dream boy. His body was... chiseled by the Gods and I, Miriam, had him all to myself. It seemed to us and our classmates that the star jock and star swimmer were a match made in heaven, and we were. So much so that our senior year, we were voted by our class to be the cutest couple.

Believe it or not, but there was once a time that I had a pretty bangin' body myself. All that swimming I did gave me both strength and muscles, but a body that a lot of my friends envied. As my mom used to tell me when I was a little girl, I was getting the curves any girl dreamed of. But, mom didn't make it passed my 15th birthday and quickly after my 16th birthday during Sophmore year was when Bob Pataki came into my life. Once we graduated, we enrolled in the same college and both had pretty generous scholarships to attend with; Bob's for football and mine from swimming.

Quickly, our relationship began to escalate and it wasn't long before the news came in a bright pink plus sign one early morning.

At first, I didn't know what I was supposed to say to Bob. I didn't know if he would leave me, if he would make me quit college or if he would be okay with it altogether.

But as they say... everything comes with a price. And mine, as expected, was my future.

I dropped out of college within the next month, unable to juggle planning a child and school career. Naturally, my hopes and dreams of making the Olympics in swimming... well... swam down the toilet and all I had left, was the child living inside of me.

Thankfully, B asked me to marry him and two and a half months before Olga was born, I was Miriam Pataki: dropout, failure, and surely shunned by her own mother watching her from above. All she had dreamed for me, all I had dreamed for myself... all she had hoped I would become was no longer possible and I couldn't fight the feelings of defeat from the life that had once held such promise.

But life went on. Our child grew and grew and found in herself the person I had wanted so badly to be: a winner. Olga began to win everything. From spelling bees to piano recitals even to beauty pageants, Olga won them all and the living room in our tiny apartment began to fill with shiny trophies with the Pataki name engraved in them all.

Oh, Bob was so proud. He couldn't have imagined any less from HIS child than a winner. So twelve years later when I became pregnant again, Bob quickly changed. Suddenly, Bob pushed Olga further. Pushed her to become even more than she already was. He said he was trying to step up the expectations. Said that he wanted our other child to be just as great as the one we already had, if not better.

But B... he didn't know that he was already setting up our unborn child to achieve just as much as I had achieved... nothing. He wanted her to fail.

In his mind... he didn't want anyone or anything to beat Olga.

This bothered me. It wasn't how I wanted our children to grow up... it wasn't how I wanted our children to think they had to be.

I began to attend small 'mom' groups. We'd meet up at a bar every month and talk about our lives as mothers, whether new mothers or not. Through this group, I met so many great parents... and so many bad ones. But they never encouraged me to make any bad decisions, just offered me their best advice and shared in every laugh and tear that came with motherhood. After Helga was born, I began to go to the bars more often. Helga often stayed at home with Bob and Olga. I had hoped that it was Bob's way of trying to get to know our newest addition to the family... not our newest mistake as he liked to put it. Our child was beautiful... everything we could have ever hoped for.

B didn't see it like that. And that knowledge, ripped me apart.

"He just isn't the Bob Pataki I fell in love with," I voiced one night in the bar, finishing off my one Bloody Mary that I usually ordered before heading home. But tonight, I just needed one more. I had HAD it with my home life. It was time for a night away from my reality that sat in our new home. "He isn't the man I want to be with."

"Honey, I feel ya," the last of the mom's who had stayed answered, finishing off her drink and picking up her things to head home, "but I should get home. You heading out too, Miriam?"

"You know... I think I may stay for another drink."

"Alright, but be careful, okay? From what it sounds like... your daughter is gonna need her mom more than ever. Take care, Miriam." She said, waving goodbye and leaving through the doors that led out to the reality I tried so desperately to hide from.

"Remember folks, it's almost eleven on a Friday night! That only means one thing; KARAOKE! Start entering your songs now before it gets too late!"

Now, I hadn't sang karaoke for YEARS. I wasn't sure if I'd still be any good at it... but that night I discovered just how good I had once been. By the time I called the cab to get me home, I was stumbling all over the stage, the microphone continuously slipping from my hand, and a man on each arm to help carry me out.

But dammit, I was happy. I'd never been happier.

It didn't take long for the bar to become my haven. Every Friday night, you could find me up on that stage singing all of my troubles away... until Bob took that from me too.

Said I was flirting with the other men.

"What kind of wife does that? You tell me Miriam. I see the way you look at them... don't you think I don't see! Now from here on out, you will be staying here, EVERY night taking care of these kids. You understand me? That's your JOB. You're the one who dropped out of college, Miriam. Not me. I have a beeper store to manage." he said. Always about that damn store. About how any day now, he'd be moved up and any day now, he'd be buying his own store.

And... soon enough... that's what he had. _Bob's Beeper Emporium _he named it. He was the official King of the Beepers. And I was Miriam... Queen of the Liquor Cabinet.

But I tried to be a good mom... I always had. My children... they came first. And when it became too hard to answer the questions about the funny smelling liquid in mommy's coffee cup... I found other ways to hide my quickly growing addiction.

Smoothies seemed to make sense to the girls. They accepted mommy's morning smoothies, and they even began to accept her afternoon smoothies. But by the time Helga hit fourth grade... everybody knew, and everybody had given up on the hopes of me becoming a 'good mom' again.

Even me.

So there I was again... being the one thing I was good at... A failure.

* * *

"Helga..." I mumbled again, making my way back to the couch and falling onto it while reaching for the melted smoothie sitting on the coffee table beside me, "I'm... I'm so sorry, honey..."

and I faded away to the only thing that hadn't been ripped from my reality... my dreams.


	2. DAY 2: OVER THE RAINBOW

_**Why hello again! **_

_**we are at DAY 2: OVER THE RAINBOW **_

_**In this one, I decided to interpret it as Olga looking for her little piece of 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' by being the world of PERFORMING (which is MY slice of over the rainbow as well!) not very long, but I think it brought about nicely the idea I was trying to voice. **_

_**DISCLAIMER: I don't own HEY ARNOLD! **_

_**lemme know what you think! **_

_**xoxo**_

_**Polkahotness**_

* * *

College was something I always new I would attend. I mean, it was to me only another place to go and show the world just how us Patakis conquer the world. But... mommy and daddy weren't very happy when I applied to Julliard of all places in the world. I wanted to perform... wanted to bring joy to the world in the form of singing and dancing and acting and playing the piano. Where there weren't words to spell or silly facts to memorize... only words to pierce the soul with powerful messages and deep meaning.

Helga was the only one who seemed to support me. She said if it was my own 'slice of somewhere over the rainbow' I was looking for, I should go out there, far FAR away from here, and find it.

Though we hadn't always been the best of friends, I knew Helga was only looking out for me the way any good baby sister would. She knew that to achieve my dreams, I had to be far from Hillwood; even if that meant being far from her and our family.

But off I went to New York in search for the world I had fallen so in love with. I just, wasn't entirely sure how hard it was going to be. In Hillwood, our community theater was where I practically lived. The small stage they held was a second home to me, and I thought back fondly to the many dances I had performed there and the bunches of piano recitals my teacher had held there while I was growing up. However, while New York had plenty of wide open stages just begging to be performed on, it didn't quite have the availability our little theater held for budding performers. While I had grown up being used to receiving any part I auditioned for, New York seemed to have nothing in store for me, and it wasn't long before I was becoming afraid that the performing world, while I loved IT, didn't love me.

"Mommy? Daddy?" I called home one day, a heavy sigh sounding from the receiver.

"No, _Ol_ga, it's just me."

"Oh! Baby sister, I'm so glad to hear your voice..."

"Right... About that..." she mumbled, but I continued over her.

"I just don't know what I'm going to do."

"Well, what seems to be the problem? New York not holding all the hopes and dreams you thought it would?"

"Oh no, no Helga. It is! It has, all of these stages and all of these wonderful amazing people with so much to offer me but-"

"Than what's so bad about it? Missing all the attention from Mommy and Daddy?"

"I just... I don't think New York wants me here..." I began to cry then, my sobs resounding back to me through the phone.

"Olga... As much as it pains me to say this... but... you can't give up, okay? I mean... you're already THERE. If you give up now... you're just gonna be one of those... I dunno. Dropouts. One of those people who don't want it THAT bad so they give up and become managers at some fast food restaurant always saying, 'what if I had stayed in college,' or 'what if I had just stuck around a little longer,' or 'what if I had just told him I loved him-'"

"What?"

The phone russled, almost as if she had dropped it on the floor and struggled to pick it back up.

"Helga? Helga, are you still there, baby sister?"

"Ahem... mm... uh... eh... Olga... Yeah. I'm here."

"What was the last thing you said?"

"I said? Well, I said... it isn't important. What IS important is that you gotta just... STAY out there... and not just because I clearly want you to, but because you'll hate yourself forever if you don't. You got that? You stay there and you prove New York wrong."

"How do you know I will?"

"Because we're PATAKIS. We don't let ANYONE knock us down. EVER."

I smiled and wiped the smudged mascara from my cheeks.

"Thank you, Helga."

"Don't mention it."

"I won't forget this."

"Please, please do."

"I love you, baby sister."

she sighed and said quickly and quietly, "I love you, too. Now go do whatever it is they make you do out there..."

"Like study my lines-"

"There ya go. I'll tell Bob you called. Miriam's sleeping behind the couch again. Talk to you later, Olga."

Before I could say goodbye, the dial tone rung in my ear and I pressed the end button before glancing in the mirror to smile at myself.

"You, are Olga Pataki... and your sister is right; you CAN'T give up."

So I won't. Not until I find exactly what I came to New York to find.


	3. DAY 3: FIERY EYES, FRAGILE HEART

**_Heyyyyylo again! So (super belated) today is day 3 :) And that means: _**

**_DAY 3: FIERY EYES, FRAGILE HEART. _**

**_I interpreted this as Curly. His mad passion for Rhonda makes him to have this fiery passion for her and all that she is and means to him, but deep down, he has a fragile heart that while he talks the talk, can break him as we've seen in more than just one episode. _**

**_So this is in Curly's POV and just yay :) _**

**_DISCLAIMER: I don't own Hey Arnold! OR the song 'Night After Night' which I sang in Pop Group my junior year and to this day can find no record that such a song/poem exists :( I just remember the lyrics. haha. _**

**_Anyways, Enjoy! and R&R! _**

**_xoxo_**

**_Polkahotness_**

* * *

She was so beautiful, that Rhonda. Everything about her. All the way from her dark locks down to her perfectly painted toenails; she was a stunner.

And every night while she slept, I dreamed of her; dreamed of her perfectly colored eyes and her perfectly shadowed eyelids. My nights were full of Rhonda Wellington Lloyd and the beauty we would create together in the world I had imagined so many times growing up.

In choir, we sang 'our song.' It was called, 'Night After Night' and the lyrics fit everything that we were.

It fit everything that I wished we could be, but for all I knew... never would.

_Night after night_

_Your presence thrills me_

_As in a sweet, and pleasing dream._

_But all day long_

_Your absence chills me_

_And my regret becomes extreme. _

_More and more the night, I prize the night _

_I prize so that I may enjoy my dreaming. _

_Sleep all day through_

_Oh! My poor eyes! _

_And let there be no end to dreaming;_

_And let there be no end to dreaming. _

To this day, I can't remember who wrote the poem that inspired the song, but each night I hummed the familiar melody to myself in hopes that one day, I could finally land the girl I had grown up to pine after with my fiery and intent eyes, hidden behind my usual thick lenses.

The next morn, I awoke to my usual reality: my usual peanut butter puffs in their usual soy milk that Ma bought for me. My usual anxiety meds with my usual glass of tap water. My usual car ride to my usual classroom for first period, where she sat directly beside me.

The wafts of Rhonda's thick (and expensive) floral perfume danced into my nostrils and tickled the tiny hairs that dared to touch the pleasing scents that I dreamed of each night as I lay in my bed.

And while my heart pitter pattered in my chest as the statistics droned on in our classroom filled with innocent bystanders to our deep passionate love that bloomed between us, I couldn't help but reach out to stroke the hairs that cascaded down her delicate shoulders that were perfectly tanned and exposed only enough to drive the typical man mad.

"Just WHAT do you think you're doing?" she turned to spit at me in a hushed tone.

"Touching your hair, my beautiful angel..."

"Well DON'T. It takes a LONG TIME to get it to look this way and I DON'T want your greasy oily little hands ruining it. You couldn't IMAGINE how expensive my anti-frizz is...it probably costs more than one month of your apartment's rent."

"Only the best for someone as perfect as you senorita..."

"Just shut up, Curly. You're going to get us BOTH in trouble." She reached into her designer purse to pull out the bubble gum lip gloss she had used ever since we were young fools in elementary school, just discovering ourselves.

"Let them try to keep us apart," I whispered. "Let them try."

"Yes!" She whispered back while facing forward and looking at herself in her compact mirror to spread the gloss evenly around her perfectly plump lips. "Let them keep us apart. By God, I practically bribed our teacher to keep us on OPPOSITE sides of the room, but I guess even MONEY can't buy me everything..."

"Maybe it's a blessing in disguise, lover."

"Okay," she said, tossing both the gloss and compact back into her purse and twisting to look at me directly in the eyes, hers practically spitting fire into my soul, "do NOT call me lover-"

"How about sugar, sugah?"

"No!"

"Honey, honey?"

"STOP IT!" she yelled, everyone's eyes turning to look at us from their spots, the teacher intrigued but clearly aware as to what was going on.

"Miss Lloyd? Do we have a problem?"

Looking panicked between both the teacher and I, she quickly shook her head and laced her fingers together while forcing a smile and placing her hands in her lap.

"N-no Mr. Meier. Nothing's wrong. Sorry..."

Nodding his head with clear question, he turned back to the white board and continued writing with the near-dead marker that squeaked with each stroke it made.

"Why lie?"

"Because."

"Because why...?"

"Just shut up, Curly. Just shut up and wait until AFTER class."

"And then what?"

"And then... and then meet me out in the hallway after class."

My eyes must have shot sparklers from their pupils. I nodded my head in utter shock and smiled from ear to ear.

_It was time. Time for that which I have waited for my entire life. Time for our love to finally reach full bloom. _

Much of the rest of class was wasted on my distracted ears. I was focused on what it could be that Rhonda Lloyd had in store for us. In the hallway? After class?

Rhonda however seemed to fidget in pain. Each movement she made was that of readjustment. Almost as if every position she sat in was more uncomfortable than the one before.

Perhaps... maybe she too was in anticipation for what was to come.

Glorious anticipation.

And as the bell rang, every nerve in my excited body erupted into that of fuzzlies that overtook each part of my body. As if hot lava was replacing my blood that had once inhabited my veins.

"Rhonda?"

"Hush."

"Are we meet-"

"SHHHT. Just shush."

We piled towards the door, each one of us wanting to be the first out of the classroom except for me.

I only wanted to be in the hallway with Rhonda. With her floral smell and her shiny hair. With her bubblicious lips and her whiter than white teeth.

"Com'mere." She mumbled between clenched teeth and grabbed me by the wrist pulling me around the corner to hide behind a row of lockers.

"Yes my pet?"

"Don't CALL me that. Listen, Thaddeus, and listen good because this is the LAST time I will tell you this. I saved our asses from being served on a silver platter in class today because we are not in the fourth grade anymore where I'm gonna tattle on you for all the weird shit you do. But this HAS to stop. This whole... pining after me crud. I... I'm NOT interested in you, okay?"

"Not right now that is-"

"No! Not EVER. Never. Do you got that? Read my lips: N-E-V-E-R, Never. Okay?"

"But... Rhonda, we're only in High School. So... so you don't know if-"

"I KNOW, Curly."

"Couldn't I change your mind?"

"NO! Christ, Curly. Why don't you understand this?"

"Because I'm perfect for you! Here I am, standing before you promising you all that I am and to bring you all the happiness in the world..." I could feel my eyes start to well, but I held back, knowing that if this didn't work out, Rhonda would be sure all the world knew I had cried in front of her- again. "And isn't that what you want, Rhonda? You love yourself and I love you. You want everything money can buy, and I want to give it to you. We're perfect-"

"But YOU AREN'T, Thaddeus. You aren't. You... you CAN'T be."

"Why. Not."

"BECAUSE I SAID SO."

I watched as her eyes remained locked with mine and in a desperate act of well... desperation... I reached out to grab her by her thin waist and pull her as close to me as she would allow until she figured out what it was I was doing.

And I kissed her.

In all my life, I had always imagined just how Rhonda's lips would feel against mine. Or rather... anyone's lips since this was my first lip to lip contact with any other human being. The way we seemed to mesh together so brilliantly was almost magical and I never wanted it to stop.

And for a brief moment, it felt as if maybe she didn't want it to stop either.

But alas, all great things must come to an end.

With surprising strength, she shoved me into the red locker behind me. Her eyes searched mine for a moment, and for the first time in my life I almost saw a glimmer of understanding in those eyes I had looked at since we were tiny tots in pre-k.

And then she slapped me.

She winded her right arm back and slapped me right across my left cheek, leaving my head facing the opposite direction. The strength of the slap brought tears to my eyes, I told myself. It was just the strength of the slap.

But something in me knew it was more than just a measly slap. I'd been punched, beaten, thrown into garbage cans because I was a FREAK so I'd been through it ALL. But THROUGH it all, I found the strength to pick myself up and carry on.

Yet, as Rhonda looked at me through eyes I'd never seen before, I knew there was something she wanted to say, but couldn't.

Mainly because all of our school had stopped dead in their tracks to see just what kind of drama Rhonda Wellington Lloyd was up to THIS time.

"How DARE you!" She yelled loud enough for the community college conveniently placed next door to our school to hear. "How DARE you think you can KISS ME! You listen THADDEUS," there were tears hiding behind her lids and it broke my heart to not reach out and flick away the threatening water to ruin her flawlessly applied eye make-up, "I don't CARE what you think could happen between us. I don't even care that you have the world's biggest crush on me. Hell, I don't even care if you STALK me, but you do NOT kiss THESE LIPS. Do you understand me? Do I need to REPEAT myself?"

I shook my head, my eyes still focused on the vast direction my face had landed after her slap.

She reached out just then and grabbed my face; smooshing my cheeks together so I looked even fatter than Harold.

"Then we have an understanding. You are a FREAK, Curly. And Rhonda Lloyd doesn't kiss FREAKS."

She tossed me like a worn rag-doll to the side and swiftly walked away, shaking her hips with each step the way I had grown accustomed to watching whenever I'd walk behind her.

But not this time. Not today.

Today, I lay on the floor, broken. How easily Rhonda could take my fragile heart out of my chest with her bare hands and throw it so carelessly on the ground when we both knew it wasn't what she wanted to do. I could see it in her eyes.

It wasn't long before the familiar face of the school's own guardian angel showed up by my side.

"Curly! Curly are you okay?"

"Hmm?"

"Your face is really red, you want me to help you to the nurse?"

"No, no, Arnold. I'm... I'll be fine." I slowly made my way up to standing and brushed my pants off of the dust from our dirty school floor.

"Are you sure? Rhonda can... be really mean sometimes."

"So can Helga."

"What?"

"Nothing, nothing. I just... I've lived through worse."

"Like when?" He asked, picking up his backpack that he had put on the floor to help me up.

"I don't really know right NOW, but I'm sure there's something. It's just... a little... embarrassment..."

"Wow... you've really grown up through the years, haven't you Curly?"

It hit me just then what it was that had happened. Like in a movie, the events flashed before my eyes in terrifying speed and the tears I had been hiding so effortlessly jumped from my eyes down my cheeks until I was a full-blown sobbing mess of a man.

"Oh... Arnold!" I sobbed, throwing myself into his arms as he awkwardly patted my back until the sobs subsided.

"Guess I spoke too soon..." he mumbled into my shoulder as I continued.

"How could she do-do-do that?"

"Because she's Rhonda. I hate to say it, but she's never really been a ball of sunshine. Especially to you."

"I... I always th-tho-thought that... that it... m-might b-bb-b-be because she was pl-playing hard to get, I read that in a ma-mag-magazine once, but I thought she might... just be ASKING m-me to try harder..."

"Maybe it's time you gave up? I mean, if she really isn't interested?"

"But Arnold..." I said, pulling away from his clumsy-embrace and wiped the water from my cheeks, "I saw it."

"Saw what?"

"Something."

"Okay? I'm a little confused..."

"I just... I SAW something in her Arnold. Almost like... like she felt the same way I feel..."

"I think you may be delirious from that slap, Curly. Maybe we should get you to the Nurse..." He reached for my shoulder and I shrugged him away, thinking back to the look in her eyes that was quickly filling me with hope.

"No, No no no no, Arnold, she DID."

"She slapped you and called you a freak, Curly. I think that's beyond playing hard-to-get."

Shaking my head, I turned around, mumbling to myself.

"Maybe that look in her eyes, maybe she liked it. Maybe it is all a ploy. A silly ploy. THAT'S it! That's probably it!"

Rhonda could SAY one thing. But feeling something... that was another story I was ready to get her to tell with more than just that look in her eyes.


	4. DAY 4: MIRACLE

_**Okay! **_

_**DAY 4: MIRACLE **_

_**this one was especially hard for me. I went through a few ideas before landing on 2 of my biggest fanfiction writer fears. **_

_**1. the jungle movie**_

_**2. 9 year olds. **_

_**I don't like writing as 9 year olds, cause I have a lot larger of a vocabulary than them. I would know, because I work with that age group A LOT. I also am afraid of talking about TJM because I have this super ultra fear of ruining the story and just being a fool and sounding lame and ruining a lot. But out of funsies without going too deep into TJM i talk about it and yah :) in Arnold's POV **_

_**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Hey Arnold! **_

_**R&R pleassssssssssssssssse and lemme know what you guys think! Hope you like it! :) **_

_**xoxo**_

_**Polkahotness**_

* * *

I stood, terrified, behind the man-made steps of the green-eyed people. All my life I had waited for this moment, and I could tell as all of my classmates gathered behind me, that they knew what it meant to me to be where we were.

"Arnold," Gerald called out behind me, "is this it?" His breath was labored after the run to follow my quick steps to get to where the map said we should go.

"I... I think so." I opened the journal and followed the dotted line with my index finger, grinning when I realized that the big 'X' was directly where we were standing.

"The fact that we made it here is amazing. Nobody has been here since your parents." Eduardo stated; some of the first words he'd spoken since we started on our hike.

The steps of cement that the green-eyed people had made by hand had clearly been worn from heavy usage, but from everything Eduardo had told us, you wouldn't know. They never showed themselves, at least, not that anyone knew of.

The only ones who would KNOW... would be my parents.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go in!" Helga called out, taking steps forward before Eduardo threw his arm out to block her from getting any further.

"We can't."

"But we HAVE to! His parent's are in there! Criminy, are you crazy?"

"No, YOU are crazy. The green-eyed people are very... different from us as I told you before. The only ones they would accept... would be Arnold."

"Arnold?"

"Him?"

"Me?"

"You."

"But... but will he get hurt? I mean, what if they hurt him!" Helga called out, and everyone looked at her in confusion. "I mean... cause that would really suck for him since this is HIS trip. Sheesh."

"I don't think they'd hurt him. The green-eyed people are a very docile people."

"So what do we do?" Gerald asked, taking a step forward and looking to Eduardo for some sort of answer.

"We wait here. But Arnold, you must go. You're your parents' only chance."

"I'm only 9. What can I do? I don't even know their language..." I paused, the sounds of the environment filling for my silence. "What do I do?"

"You stand right there on that circle," he said pointing atop of what looked to be an altar of some sort, "and you wait to see if they'll take you into their village."

"Are you serious? And they think we won't see?" Gerald asked, crossing his arms across his chest.

"We turn around. If they accept him, then we wait for him to come back."

"And if he doesn't?" Helga asked, almost hurt at the thought.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there." He answered in the calmest of voices. "Are you ready?"

I nodded my head, a small smile hinting at my face as I made my way to the stone altar.

"As ready as I'll ever be."

I could feel my body shake as I stood feeling naked on top of the circle Eduardo told me to stand on. My classmates turned around, Gerald and Helga being the last two to finally face towards the trees and I closed my eyes, waiting.

With a quick blast of air passing me, I felt the environment around me change suddenly and by the time I had opened my eyes, I pieced two and two together.

"The green-eyed people..." I whispered to myself in complete disbelief.

The woman looking at me, with green painted on her cheeks and green leaves braided carefully in her hair, pointed down to the ground repeatedly.

"Quedarse." She spoke with a thick accent that appeared to be Spanish and then disappeared.

The trees around me were lush and in abundance of fruits I had never seen before. The dirt below me felt moist and full of water, clearly from the rainfall we had endured hours before when we were on our way here. Yet as far out as I looked, I could see no structures for living like a house, or a temple, or anything that I had learned about when studying cultures like the green-eyed people.

"Hmm." A grunt sounded from behind me, and I turned around to see Helga looked at me as she stood beside the familiar lady who had brought me to wherever I was.

"Helga?"

"-Elga?" The green-eyed lady repeated.

"Helga." Helga said slowly and the green-eyed lady repeated her again.

"He-lga." She smiled, and the flecks of what looked to be jade drew in my attention.

"Hey Football-head, stop gawking and figure out what's going on, will ya?"

"Football-head..." the lady said and let go of Helga's wrist to take a shaky step towards me; reaching out with her arm hesitantly to touch my face gently. "Head..." She mumbled before her eyes grew wide and she dropped instantly to her knees and bowed in my direction.

"Uh... what is she doing?" Helga asked, pointing to the lady as she remain in place on the ground by my feet.

"I don't... I don't know..." I answered, reaching down to help the must have been 17 year old girl up to her feet.

"What language do they speak?" Helga asked and I shrugged my shoulders.

"Spanish I think."

"Well do you KNOW Spanish?"

"N-No..."

"So how should we talk to them?"

"I don't know..."

"Well what DO you know? We're looking for YOUR parents! Shouldn't you know something?"

The young woman looked between us and soon pointed from me to her and back and forth.

"Us?" I asked.

"US?" Helga repeated, more panic in her voice than question. "What... What about US?"

The girl smiled and motioned for us to follow her as she ran through the forest in clear determination to bring us somewhere.

"Where do you think we're going?" I turned to ask Helga while we ran, her shrugging her shoulders while her eyes followed the young lady who was feet ahead of us.

"I dunno, bucko. But if we keep chit-chatting here, we won't be able to follow her and we'll get lost. And then we'll NEVER find your parents. So c'mon!" She called out, running ahead of me, almost encouraging me to catch up to her side.

The path we followed was battered, and clearly used by many people at once. The area was somewhere we hadn't passed on our way to the green-eyeds and Helga and I looked in wonder until suddenly stopping when we reached the edge of the ground, cut off by a dramatic waterfall.

"Where did she go?"

"Huh?"

"The green-eyed girl. Where did she go!"

"He-lga! Head!" A voice called from below. After much searching, our eyes caught sight of the girl waving her arms above her head and motioning for us to jump.

"Jump. She wants us to JUMP. Is she CRAZY?"

"Well... she did it."

"You aren't suggesting we JUMP, are you? Criminy! You're a bigger oaf than I thought you were!"

"Helga... Please."

"I mean it! You want me to risk my LIFE jumping off a CLIFF? You're crazy!"

"Helga," I reached out hesitantly, grabbing her hand and squeezing it tightly, "for me...?"

Her eyes searched mine for a long moment clearly masking the inner conflict that was making her shaky on the idea.

"Fine. But only because I know you won't survive without my help. ONLY because of that."

"Whatever you say Helga."

"So are we jumping, or what?" She asked, our hands still holding the other tightly in fear at the serious jump.

"On three. One... Two..."

"THREE!" we yelled in unison before flying through the air to jump to what appeared to be our deaths...

until we opened our eyes.

Rolling on the net that caught us, we came to a hidden tunnel, the same tunnel that my dad had described in his journal. Standing in the corner of the tunnel, the girl waved to us and motioned to the ladder she climbed up; vanishing into the sunlight.

Standing up and brushing off a few leaves that had stuck to our clothing, we exchanged a look between hands before Helga ran off to follow the woman with me only to follow, and what we climbed into was astonishing.

Behind large leaves and sharp turns through the tall trees lay a hidden city larger than I could have ever imagined.

The world we entered from the tunnel seemed to be just that: otherworldly. It wasn't like the forest we had run through because this was clearly civilized and run by humans. But, it wasn't like our town of Hillwood either with our big stores, huge malls and honking cars. The village we entered seemed to be that of something in between, yet the houses and huts looked to be almost new and not worn like the things we had seen before meeting the green-eyed girl. The ground beneath us was dry and hard, and the trees bore no fruits like the ones we had earlier seen by the altar.

"These... your houses," I asked, pointing to the houses we passed by, "new?" I tried my best to show with my hands what I was trying to ask.

"New?" She repeated, her eyebrows scrunching together in confusion.

I glanced over to Helga, almost asking for help, but she was far ahead of me. Making motions I hadn't thought of using before, the girl seemed to understand and nodded, solemnly.

"Why did they move?" I asked Helga, and she continued to motion with her hands until the girl nodded her head and reached down for a small rock; spinning around in search for a wide open space. Finally settling for a larger stone close to a rather large 'house,' she crouched down as we followed suit and she began to draw.

The picture appeared to be that of a man, a man I had heard countless stories about growing up to be the villain of my parents' adventurous tales.

"La Sombra..." I muttered, and the girl turned to look at me in fear at his name.

"La Sombra..." she tossed the rock she had been drawing with and stood up, motioning wildly as Helga followed her every motion with understanding.

"He made them move..." She said to me, my eyes locked on her the entire time. "Threatened them... took their people. Murdered families and took their jewels. Stole something called the heart? She keeps pointing to her heart... a jewel? They had to move from their food sources to here which can't give them food like back there. And- Wait... wait!" She called out, motioning for her to stop, asking her out loud the names I had chosen not to speak since we walked off the plane in fear that I may curse any chance of meeting them once again.

"Miles..." she said, my eyes shutting at the sound of my father's name. "Stella...?"

The girl nodded and made the only motion I had been able to completely understand through her and Helga's strange conversation: take.

"He has them?" I asked, my voice cracking at the realization that we may not be coming home with as many people as we had hoped. "He has my parents?"

The mission of finding the green-eyed people had been so successful that the news of my missing parents in a country we were unfamiliar with, crushed any hope for a miracle I had harbored since childhood.

"We have to find them." Helga said sternly to the girl who stared at her in confusion at our language; Helga turning to look at me. "We WILL find them, Arnold." She said.

And for one of the first times in our 9 years, I actually believed every word Helga spoke to me.


	5. DAY 5: SPELLBOUND

_**So, **_

_**DAY 5: SPELLBOUND **_

_**I decided to write this in Sheena's perspective. Too bad none of you were beside me as I wrote this... I was literally mimicking her voice with each line I wrote, just to make sure it sounded like something I could see her saying. **_

_**I decided to write this so the 'spellbound' which has synonyms of 'hypnotizing,' 'transfixed,' and 'memorized' was more about how Sheena had always had a thing for Eugene (which we see directly in the episode, Married and Eugene's clear... not return of the feeling) I ended it kind of sudden because... well I wanted to. haha Also, I like backstorys and it was fun to write theirs. **_

_**ANYWAYS, let me know what you guys think! and R&R of course! **_

_**disclaimer: I don't own Hey Arnold! **_

_**xoxo**_

_**Polkahotness**_

* * *

It always bothered me how I couldn't get Eugene's attention.

I mean, he's such a great guy, and I just always wanted to try and get him to like me. But when he told me his... secret... in ninth grade, I felt my heart break. I didn't know what I was supposed to do.

I guess silly me should have expected it all along, but I couldn't bring myself to do it.

We had been together since diapers! Our parents met before we were born at a hospital. Of course, it was Eugene's parents who were in the hospital. They'd been hurt in a freak accident caused by the protest my parents were doing in the local park and when they realized how coincidental it was for them to meet, they decided to exchange addresses and write to each other. Before they knew it, they were receiving letters about little baby Eugene. So when the Horowitz family moved permanently to Hillwood, they set up all kinds of play dates for Eugene and I in our playpins.

I remember listening to opera as we sat in awe at the beautiful sounds that filled our ears. I remember kissing Eugene on the cheek when we were 2 and I remember him saving my life when a dog chased me in the middle of the road. He hurt himself pretty bad that day, and I remember running up to him from the ditch I had hidden away from the dog in.

"Genie?" I had called out. Being very small, Genie was the name I decided to call him since my first few words. "Genie? Are you hurt?" I asked him as he cried quietly and took my hand trying to stand up.

"I'm okay..."

That was the first time Eugene broke his leg. Wouldn't be the last, but I was there with him the entire time in the emergency room. He held my hand so tightly and I just smiled to him and drew him pictures of flowers to try and brighten his mood.

But he was usually the one to brighten mine.

I remember the first time I tried to make a sculpture. My mother had given me her old potter's wheel for my seventh birthday and I was so excited to use it. I used to look at it from the dining room and imagine all of the different shapes and textures I would one day make with it, and naturally, I wanted Eugene to be there for my first attempt at true art.

We turned it on and I sat down just as my mother had taught me, only when Eugene came over to watch me touch the soft clay and mold it into my minds most inner creations, he tripped on the chord and it fell over, making a large mess and spinning wildly out of control.

"Eugene!" I called out, him searching on the floor for the plug-in and eventually pulling it out of the socket.

"Oh Sheena! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to knock it over... Is it okay? Are you okay?"

I remember looking down at the clay as it molded with the blue carpet beneath it. I remember the feeling of hot, salty tears filling my eyes and shaking my head.

"It's okay, Eugene... You didn't mean to do it..."

"We can buy some new clay."

"It won't be the same..."

"I'm sure it will. And this time I'll stay far away from it so it won't fall over again. Besides, maybe this time you'll think of an even better and greater idea and we can make it together."

"Really?"

"Sure! It'll be even better than before."

he smiled the smile that left me spellbound behind him as we walked to the kitchen in search of paper towels to clean up our mess.

To this day the clay is still intertwined with the carpet's fine fibers and I smile every time I see it.

Because it makes me think of that smile... of HIS smile.

In fourth grade, I remember Rhonda's marriage detector origami thing. I had read about it in one of my magazines for young girls and secretly made one for myself, but I could never bring myself to use it. So when Eugene used it and landed on me, I was ecstatic. Being so young, of course I believed what a silly paper legend would tell me. But it couldn't have known how Eugene was... it was only programmed for so much... Though I suppose they could make one for anyone and the outcome would still be the same; a complete chance.

In sixth grade, Eugene and I traveled for the first time for an audition. We drove four hours just to get to an open cattle call for a professional theatre company. We knew our chances were slim, but the whole ride down we warmed up our voices and were sure to have our monologues memorized and ready to go before arriving in the big city. There must have been hundreds of kids there about our age all looking for the same parts we wanted, but it didn't phase Eugene one bit.

"If I'm supposed to get the part, I guess I'll get it. But we don't know what the director is looking for."

"No, you're right."

"You ready, Sheena?"

I remember smiling so big it hurt my cheeks and nodded my head, taking his hand in mine and squeezing it tightly.

"Ready ready, freddy." I whispered, before he went into the room.

Neither of us got the part, but I won't forget that day... it was the day Eugene taught me what happens, happens. And what doesn't... doesn't.

By the time we hit middle school, the rumors were already starting about Eugene. He'd started competing with our dance competition team and even beat Curly on one of the occastions. I always found it odd that nobody questioned Curly... only ever Eugene.

That always hurt me a little, but I always tried to keep Eugene's words in my mind:

_What happens, happens. Whatever doesn't, doesn't. _

He was always so blissfully optimistic about everything. And in a way, I was too. Our parents had just raised us to be as such, but as we grew older... my attitude began to change significantly.

I started seeing things that hurt me, much more than it hurt Eugene.

"They called us freaks..."

"So let them. There's nothing wrong with us, Sheena."

"But... what if there is and we just don't know it? What if they're right?"

He smiled and took a bite of his peas shrugging his shoulders.

"Then I guess they're right, aren't they? Doesn't really do much to us, does it?"

And on he went, eating his food and humming the latest solo he had in show choir.

But the mean comments continued.

"I think Eugene might be... gay." Rhonda said in our social studies group one day, and I remember dropping my mechanical pencil; the lead spilling out all over my textbook to fall in the crack where I couldn't get it out.

"What makes you say that?" Nadine asked without much interest.

"Oh I don't know. The dancing... the singing... the acting-"

"Just because you ACT doesn't make you GAY, Rhonda. Criminy." Helga added, rolling her eyes.

"Right... but is definitely something worth finding out, don't you think?"

"What did you have in mind?" one of the other girls asked and I instantly shook my head, feeling the anxiety build at the possibility of a fight.

"Well, I'm having this party tomorrow since it's Saturday night and all, right? A co-ed party... thought we may play a few innocent games of spin the bottle... maybe even 7 minutes in heaven..."  
"And you're inviting Eugene?"

"Oh, I'm inviting everyone! But I'm just curious to see where this may go..."

"Maybe that isn't such a good idea, Rhonda. I mean, Eugene is just ever so sweet and I'd feel just oh too guilty if he were hurt in any way."  
"It wouldn't be YOUR fault, Lila. It'd be mine. And besides, I doubt he'd tell everyone anyway. At least not when we're in the 7th grade."

However, I remained quiet, idly fiddling with my textbook to try and get the lead out from the crack, but I digested every word... and I had to warn Eugene.

But of course, he didn't listen to me.

"I'm sure they didn't mean anything by it, Sheena. And besides, even if they did, I'm sure it'll be a great party anyways. You know I won't let them get to me. I'm sure they think they're helping me or something."

I remember walking into Rhonda's house and looking around at the what seemed to be hundreds of people gathered around the stereo system to dance.

"Sheena!" Eugene called out, his arm waving just above the heads of everyone else for me to see him.

"Oh! Hi Eugene! How's the party been so far?" I asked him and he shrugged with a smile.

"Fun. You should try the punch though, it's a lemonade of some sort. Rhonda says that it's from Spain. Isn't that so cool?"

"Have they done any games yet?" I asked, ignoring Eugene's excitement about the drink.

"No, but I think they're starting on soon. You wanna play? It'll be fun!"

"Oh, I don't know, Eugene. Maybe we should just watch..."

"Oh please, Sheena? I promise, it'll be fun!"

But it wasn't.

True to her word, she tricked Eugene into making a fool of himself in the 7 minutes in heaven game. She put a guy in there with him without letting either of them know... and the poor boy, Ryan I think his name was, ran out screaming while Eugene... left her house mortified.

"Maybe... maybe she made a mistake. I mean... people do that. Maybe she forgot it was me who was in there..."

He was crying most of the night that night. That was when the gang split... and when Eugene and I officially became the outcasts of the group that was once like family growing up on the once fun and accepting streets of Hillwood.

About 2 years after Rhonda's party, Eugene invited me over to watch movies from past shows we had done. He'd bought 'Rocky Road' ice cream, gluten free potato chips, 2 cartons of soy milk (both vanilla AND chocolate) and a full tray of various vegetables with lactose-free veggie dip.

Since the embarrassing party mishap, things had cleared up between all of us, but things were never quite the same. I always felt awkward in Rhonda's presence, as I noticed most of our other once slumber party group felt too. But I had promised myself not to fight, ever since I was young I told myself I wouldn't, and to this day, I intended to keep true to that.

"Hey Sheena?"

"Yes, Eugene?" I asked, turning my attention away from the television and directly on him.

Puberty had done him well. Still awkward and nerdy, he had an aspect to him that was still the same Eugene I had grown up with and loved with all my heart as a best friend, brother, and maybe even more if he had so asked me.

"We're best friends... right?"

"Of course!" I said, twisting my body to face him completely. "Why do you ask?"

"I just... I want to tell you something and I don't want you to get mad at me or not talk to me..."

"I'd never get mad at you, Eugene... what is it?"

"Well... Sheena... I've wanted to tell you this for a long time..."

For a moment, I felt my stomach twist and turn and nearly float up and out of my body from all the butterflies that were flapping their wings inside of me.

"Yes?"

"I like..." he swallowed and I leaned in in anticipation for what I hoped he would say, "I uh... I think I'm gay. But I don't want you to tell anyone, okay, Sheena? Only my parents know and since you're like a sister to me..."

My heart sank. I felt all of the blood drain from my face and nearly escape my body altogether, yet I remained, frozen in the shock I should have been prepared for.

But I was too blind to see it... or accept it.

"R...R-Right. I won't tell anyone."

"Pinky promise?"

I smiled and offered my pinky to lock with his.

"Pinky promise."


	6. DAY 6: SERENADES IN THE MOONLIGHT

_**HIHIHIHI**_

_**I have been working UBER hard on this. Maybe too hard... but meh. **_

_**This is in GERALD'S POV so ultra yay first off. **_

_**second off i don't own Hey Arnold! **_

_**third off, this is **_

_**DAY 6: SERENADES IN THE MOONLIGHT**_

_**fourth off, the link to the song that comes in the end is HERE: watch?v=P6VUS8egeG0&feature=channel&list=UL (post this after the YouTube address in your browser:))  
**_

_**it is important you READ THIS BEFORE YOU HEAR THE SONG. then enjoy the song, and let me know what you think and yeah :) **_

_**R&R and i really hope you enjoy this one! **_

_**xoxo**_

_**Polkahotness**_

* * *

I've always been a music man. Me and my man Arnold started a little group in tenth grade and have been jammin' it up since then. He plays all these wicked beats on his keyboard, and I help with the lyrics and do my best with vocalizing. Most of the time... I'm the one writing the lyrics...

Because of my 'muse' as Arnold calls her.

But I don't think Phoebe is really into our kind of music. I guess... well I guess I never really ASKED her or anything, but I feel like she's more a mellow girl, and while our music has a mellow touch to it... I'd be too afraid to mention it to her.

"I'm sure she'd understand though... right?" I asked, turning to Arnold as he smiled, continuing to play a foreign melody on the keys.

"When are you the one to get nervous? Isn't that my job?"

"Well USUALLY, but I can't let you get too used to being such a nervous guy when you're clearly on hunt for the ladies."

"I'm not on a HUNT, Gerald."

"Who do you like anyways?"

"Why are you changing the subject?" He asked, stopping his fingers from dancing on the keyboard and turning to look at me.

"Who said I was changing the subject?"

"Gerald..." He narrowed his eyes and I lifted my hands up in surrender.

"Alright, alright... what do you want out of me?"

He shrugged, returning his attention to the keyboard, playing the same chords over and over again.

"Why do you think she'd suddenly be less interested in you if you told her we played music? I think you may be... overreacting."

"But it's like... rap."

"But not rap, Gerald. You and I BOTH know that. Why are you so nervous?"

"Because. It's... it's Phoebe."

"We're in high school-"

"And you CAN NOT tell me you aren't nervous around women YOU like. You're the KING of nervous. So don't go there, man..."

"I wasn't going to, Gerald. I'm just saying that I think you aren't thinking clearly. Phoebe, I'm sure, already likes you."

Instantly shifting my attention to fixate my eyes on Arnold, I wiggled my eyebrows in search for explanation.

"And how exactly do you know this?"

suddenly stopping, he started to twist in his chair and rub at the back of his neck.

"I... know people."

"Bull. You know no one."

"Gerald!"

"Mm mm mmm. You've been talking to that Helga G. Pataki again, haven't you?"

"And if I am?"

I scoffed and leaned back to rest on the heels of my hands.

"It's just weird, man. I tell ya... nothing good can come from it. NOTHING."

"And the fact that I know Phoebe would be interested in a date with you is nothing than, right?"

"What did you just say?" I asked, my eyes widening, along with Arnold's grin.

"Oh... it's nothing."

"Arnold, c'mon man! I've been waiting for this moment since age NINE."

"Okay, okay... Helga and I have been... thinking about setting you up. But Phoebe is just so busy with honor society and her post-secondary plans that we haven't really been able to get anything going."

"I'm surprised that you two came up with anything without her calling you a bunch of nose and punching you in the eye."

"She's gotten better, Gerald. Really. Give her a chance."

I rolled my eyes and stood up.

"If you say so, Arnold." Shaking my head, I wandered over to his bed to grab the bag of Cheetos and bring them back to where I had been seated on the floor.

"Hey! Gerald!"

"Yeah?"

"What if you did one of our songs for her? I bet-"

"No."

"But Gerald-"

"Didn't we JUST go through this, man? I... what if she doesn't like it?"

"It would be the sentiment that matters, Gerald. Girls like that."

"And you know this HOW Mr. I-don't-date-anyone-one-ever?"

He shook his head with a pink hue hinting over his cheeks and he began to stumble over his words.

"Gerald, I date... well I mean... it's not like I wouldn't... you know."

But Arnold was right... I could do one of our songs I kind of wrote about her... but even if I DID do one of our songs... which one?

* * *

**Hello, Gerald. I'm sorry to do this... but I don't know if we can see that movie tonight. I have so much to study for my history test. I'm so sorry. ~Phoebe**

I slid my phone shut and sighed.

"What's wrong?"

"Pheebs cancelled."

"Why?"

"Has to study I guess. I don't know what for though; the girl could've taken that test last WEEK with a BLINDFOLD on and still ace it."

Arnold shrugged and hovered his mouse over the 'cancel' button on the CD he was burning me.

"You know Phoebe, Gerald."

"No! Stop, Arnold I'll... I still want the CD."

"You sure? I can always burn it another time-"

"Nah, nah man. It'll save you time, right?"

"I guess." He allowed it to finish and popped it out of his laptop, reaching out to hand it to me. "So what are you gonna do now that you won't be seeing_ Evil Twin: Curse of the Triplet _with her?"

* * *

It was pretty cold outside for May, and since I didn't have a jacket, I was starting to rethink my 'once brilliantly thought out' plan. But I was already where I had to be, so there wasn't really any going back.

That's what Arnold's voice said in my head at least, even though he was sitting at home with his Grandparents while they watched their bad movie for "Bad Movie Saturday."

Maybe I was going crazy.

"Just the nerves..." I said to myself as I turned my car off and slid the CD into the CD slot of the old boombox I swiped from Jamie-O's room of still un-moved items since he had 'moved out.'

"Damn cold weather and freakin' no jacket... middle of May... mm mm MM what is this..." I mumbled, awkwardly holding the boombox and slamming the door of my car. Wandering around until finding the best position, I stopped walking and set the boombox down on the grass; picking up a few rocks from nearby and carefully chucking them at the window up ahead.

In Sophomore year, Phoebe and her parents moved from their apartment to a nice house just outside of the main city in hopes that her mom could really, 'tune into her painting' which she had really become...er... obsessed with earlier in the year. Phoebe hadn't been too excited about the move, but through the years, she really started to like the quiet of the house and the extra space it gave her to do her studying and other such nonsense she didn't really need to do. Of course, she always got mad when I'd say that, cause she's never thought she was as smart as she is, but I dealt with the anger.

And even as I stood outside her house throwing rocks at her window, I was pretty sure she'd throw a fit for what I was about to do... I just hoped I had enough strength to handle whatever anger she was prepared to throw at me.

"Gerald?"

"Hey, Pheebs."

"What are you doing? Didn't you get my text message?" She called down, an irritated tone exuding from her words.

"Yes, ma'am."

"So why are you here?"

"Well... I had plans. And I wasn't breaking them."

"Well... Gerald... you can't really come in. I'm sorry... I just really need to study."

"I understand."

"I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Yep. You'll see me tomorrow."

"...Goodnight."

I smiled up at her and watched as she slowly closed the window and disappeared from my view, her shadow moving to sit on her bed and look down intently at what I imagined were her various textbooks.

"Now or never... right?" I asked myself, moving to drop the remainder of my rocks back to the ground and pick up the boombox that was still sitting at my feet.

Holding it up above my head, I played the music loudly so she could clearly hear it through the window and prayed with all I had that nobody would complain about the noise.

Sure enough while the familiar tune that Arnold and I had rehearsed with so many times played up to her room, Phoebe opened the window with her eyes wide.

"What are you DOING, Gerald?"

"I told you," I called up at her while paying attention to the notes waiting for my cue, "I had plans that I wasn't going to break."

"This is crazy!"

"I was hoping you'd say that..." I cleared my throat and closed my eyes, hoping I'd remember all I'd written only days earlier.

"It's crazy how we fall in love

or maybe

crazy how we fall apart

but baby

listen to the sky, to the birds while they're singing

chirping up and down, just imagine they're saying

it's hard to fall so hard

it's hard to break down the walls you've built

so strong, you'll keep up your guard

but listen to me

yeah girl, listen to me

I'm in your yard."

From up above, I heard a small chuckle that I was familiar with and grinned as the beat continued on during the bridge.

"You're crazy, Gerald Johanssen."

"You can count on it." I called up and prepared myself for verse 2.

"Alone in your room, you're looking at the stars

hoping they will hold up the dreams in your heart

up down, turn around

it all looks the same

you're sitting far up there just racking up your brain.

Looking for the answers to the meaning of your life

but open up your eyes

It's hard to fall so hard

it's hard to break down the walls you've built

you think the mirror lies

but you're beautiful girl,

you're beautiful girl

in my eyes."

"Gerald..."

"In my eyes...

breaking the dates, the plans we've made

scared of the feelings that might invade

might destroy your top notch plan

not prepared for any young man

I get it

I get it

but there's something in you

something I can't buy, it's just too true

too bright, too real

I'm a bit of mess

with all these words I can't seem to express

but here I stand, boombox in my hand

finally ready to say:

It's hard to fall so hard

it's hard to break down the walls I've built

just to keep up the guard

but you broke it all down

turned a smile from a frown

yeah

it's hard to fall so hard

hard to trust the one who could break your heart

but don't worry, don't be alarmed

cause you're beautiful girl

smartest girl in the world

to your talents your blind

won't you say you'll be mine..."

By the time the song was done, it didn't take her long to scurry down those stairs and find her way into my arms.

It's funny, usual ARNOLD is the one who is the bold kid.

But I gotta say, my serenading in the moonlight may have just taken the cake.


End file.
